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Trump expected to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary, three sources say
Washington — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, according to three sources familiar with the selection.
Kennedy has a long record of criticizing vaccines, including spreading misleading claims about their safety.
He has vowed to combat an “epidemic” of chronic diseases and believes that large drug and food companies are to blame for a broad swath of ailments. Kennedy has claimed a number of health issues have worsened due to federal inaction, including autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, sleep disorders, infertility rates, diabetes and obesity. He has also urged removing fluoride from drinking water.
Kennedy’s odds of clearing a Senate led by Democrats would have been low, given his long record of what the party called “anti-science, fringe public health stances,” but with Republicans in the majority come January, Trump’s nominees will have an easier path to confirmation.
Trump promised to let Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic and former environmental lawyer, “go wild” on issues relating to health, food and medicine.
“I’m going to let him go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on medicines,” Trump said in the final days before the election. “The only thing I don’t think I’m going to let him even get near is the liquid gold that we have under our feet … sometimes referred to as oil and gas.”
As a co-chair of Trump’s transition, Kennedy has been vetting a slate of staffers who could fill top positions throughout the Trump administration. He has said he hopes “to have every nutritional scientist” across the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture “fired on Day One.”
Kennedy, who faced a costly and time-consuming process to appear on general election ballots as an independent candidate, ended his longshot bid for the White House in August and endorsed Trump.
Kennedy said there were three issues that convinced him to endorse Trump: free speech, the war in Ukraine and what he called the “war on our children.” He said processed foods, chemicals and obesity were destroying the health of children in the U.S.
At an August rally with Kennedy, Trump vowed to establish a panel to investigate chronic health problems and childhood diseases, as well as establish an independent presidential commission on assassination attempts that would be tasked with releasing all of the remaining documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Kennedy is the nephew of the late president and the son of the late senator, attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
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In the heart of downtown Clemson, South Carolina, the Shepherd Hotel is a community hub buzzing with locals and visitors. Like most hotels, the staff is what makes the difference. But here, the staff also makes it unique.
Around 30% of the staff have an intellectual disability. Workers make between $13 and $18 per hour including tips — far above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Nationwide, 16% of people with an intellectually disability are employed, according to a ThinkWork survey.
The Shepherd’s owner, Rick Hayduk, brought his vision of employing intellectually disabled people to life in part because two of his four children have Down syndrome.
“If we do our job right, someone leaves here inspired,” Hayduk said.
The hotel partnered with a program at nearby Clemson University called ClemsonLIFE. Students, including Hayduk’s daughter Jamison, not only take college courses, they also learn skills to help them live and work independently.
The program’s participants learn everything from time management and hygiene to banking and budgeting, according to program director Erica Walters. Nearly all of the graduates who have been through the program are employed. Plans are underway to open two similar hotels in South Carolina next year.
“We want to grow for the sake of inspiration and change,” Hayduk said.
The program is changing lives.
Alex Eveland, a recent graduate from ClemsonLIFE, is now employed as a server at the Shepherd Hotel. Eveland has Down syndrome, and as a child, doctors thought he would never walk or talk. Now he is working toward a hospitality certification and has dreams of opening his own restaurant one day.
“I have no time to have a bad day in life, because I want to tell people, people could do anything in life,” Eveland said.
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